With Tony Hawk franchise on one side and the Skate series on the other, I seriously doubted there could be room for a third skateboarding game? I mean two rival franchises are enough but three? That could be a crowded… Continue Reading →

With Tony Hawk franchise on one side and the Skate series on the other, I seriously doubted there could be room for a third skateboarding game? I mean two rival franchises are enough but three? That could be a crowded mess.

But if you look closer at the state of skating genre, things aren’t so clear cut. The Skate franchise has become the defacto dominant game because the Tony Hawk series took a wrong turn with Ride. The fate of Activision’s franchise is uncertain and this could open up the way for another alternative — Shaun White Skateboarding.

Could a game starring The Flying Tomato upend the man synonymous with skateboarding?If it finds a way to stand out from the field, it can. The developer, Ubisoft Montreal, hopes toaccomplishes that by moving away from the realism of Skate and the impossible moves of Tony Hawk. With Shaun White Skateboarding, the team injects a strong story and a bit of the fantastic to make its game a compelling trip.

Players design their own avatar, and they’ll have to fight off a government entity called the Ministry that enforces control and conformity on city residents. When players start out, the levels will be drab grays, white and blacks. But as players perform ollies, grinds and flip tricks, they’ll garner more energy and with that, they’ll be able to change the environment, making it more colorful. With enough power, players will be able to use Flow to control parts of the world.

That’s where Shaun White Skateboarding steps away from reality and delves into the fantasy realm. With Flow, they can guide the direction of a rail grind as it magically extends in front of him. With enough energy, they can break through cinderblock walls or activate vert ramps that appear out of thin air. Best of all, everything is done at a smooth 60 frames per second.

But whatever the concept, a skating game is only as good as its controls, and Ubisoft Montreal is trying to appeal to the broadest audience with a mixture of Tony Hawk and Skate schemes. At first, players will move their skaters with the analog stick pressing up to move them forward and left and right to send them turning. Players can jump by pressing the X button and hitting it will make the skater reach a consistent height. There’s no holding X to build power. Everything is fairly automatic as players spin and land without ever bailing out. For fans of other skating games, it will take some time adjust to the controls and retrain their brain, but the game is very forgiving.

As the protagonist’s mentor, Jonah, shows players the ropes in the city’s five districts, they’ll learn other moves and adopt new skills. It ramps up fairly quick, and once I was introduced to the right analog stick to do ollies and flip tricks, I was able to jam. Everything felt natural from grabs on the vert (done with the shoulder buttons) to backward flips and transfers. Personally, I’m a Skate a person, and it took me a while to figure out that grinds can be done head on to a rail. I didn’t have to attack grinds at an angle like I’m used to. It’s another wrinkle I’ll have to adjust to.

When it came to the architecture and concept, Ubisoft Montreal creative director Nick Harper said that part of it was inspired by the seasons. In Montreal, the winter is gray and dreary. Outside, no one talks much; they just rush forward, he said, but when the summer comes, everything changes. It’s brighter and more people are about. In addition, the game’s architecture has a similar transformation. In the beginning levels, it looks more like the East Coast, but as players advance, the other districts show of touches of California cities.

Lastly, Shaun White Skateboarding supports 3D televisions. It runs at 30 frames per second because the systems have to render twice the data. Harper said the UI is still being worked on. They plan on bringing it up front so it pops, but right now it sits toward the back of the plane. The 3D offers a stronger sense of immersion, and I could see it helping players judge distances off jumps and other tricks. From what I saw, 3D isn’t a huge part of the gameplay. The game just happens to support it.

I know it sounds a little early to be saying this, but Skate 3 has jumped the shark. I’ve seen it. I’ve done it. I’ve swooped down a sculpture and ollied over a gianormous shark monument on the campus of… Continue Reading →

I know it sounds a little early to be saying this, but Skate 3 has jumped the shark. I’ve seen it. I’ve done it. I’ve swooped down a sculpture and ollied over a gianormous shark monument on the campus of Port Carverton’s sole college.

It was one of the memorable moments I had playing the game at EA’s Redwood City headquarters last month. EA Black Box dropped by to show off the project’s latest features with an emphasis on online team play. That’s going to be the driving force behind this sequel.

Along with a brand new city to explore, players have to build a skate team and lead it in competition. It’s a very different start from the past two games, where players came up as anonymous or forgotten skaters who had to make a name for themselves. In Skate 3, a player’s character is already established as a hot shot in the sport, and they’ll have to take their fame to the next level by building their own crew, creating their own gear and plastering their custom logo all over the city.

That’s all in the single-player campaign, but at the event, we focused more on 2-on-2 competition. A publicist and I went up against members of the dev team. Yes, we may have been at a disadvantage going against the creators, but we held up pretty well despite the skateboarding thumb rust that’s built up since January.

This time around, I had a new trick to master — the darkslide — where players do a flip trick and turn the board upside down to grind on the opposite side. It’s a hard move to master and it took me a better part of an hour trying to figure it out, but once you do it, it opens up some new ways to score. All you have to do is perform a flip trick, and at the top of the move, hold onto the R1 or RB button. On the reverse side, there’s also underflips, which is a quick flick up and a flick down.

I wish I could have used it more when my team went up against the folks at EA Black Box. The first multiplayer game was called Own the Spot, where my teammate and I had to do tricks on designated planters and benches. If we scored the highest trick on the spot, we own it, but if the other team outscores us they own it. The contest is a wild free for all with players all over the place grinding and doing flip tricks, trying to take over areas. In the end, the team with the most spots wins.

The second multiplayer game we played was 1up. It’s basically a team version street or park skating. Teams have to score as many points as possible within a time limit. The only caveat is that they can’t bail during a run. If they do, the round is automatically over and they keep any of the points they scored up to then. The game has some strategy as teammates have to coordinate and talk to each other to maximize their points and avoid each other.

In terms of competition, teams take turns doing their runs. In each round, the team with the losing score gets a letter or number in “1up.” The team that spells the full 1up loses the match. I remember winning this one.

For a change of pace, we tried a racing event, where players zip down slopes, jumping gaps or doing tricks off halfpipes. It’s a fairly standard event, but the track design was unconventional. Instead of racing down well-worn roads, we flew down ramps and forgotten backroads. The whole area reminded me of some of the mega ramps and big skateparks in the previous game.

On the halfpipes, you’re guaranteed to get a lot of air but keep in mind, the longer that you show off, the more likely the other team is catching up and passing you by. It’s safe to say I was awful at this mode.

The last match we played was a mission-based game on a map called On the Lot. The publicist and I had to complete a series of goals before our rivals. The first team to jump over cars, do simultaneous grinds and other objectives wins the match. This was a little easier than the racing though I didn’t exactly know what the objectives were. I could get a few just by skating around and doing normal tricks.

But soon, I found out what we had to do, and I was able to do most of the tricks for our team, and we almost got the win.

As for the other features that Skate fans have come to expect, those elements will make a return. Players will have a new and improved Skate Reel. They’ll be able to make their own logo via Skate Graphics. Players, who have been away from the game a while (like me), can even get a refresher course at the new Skate School.

The franchise’s sequels haven’t exactly been as revolutionary as the first title, but the gameplay is still there. Thankfully, it hasn’t gotten more complicated with a plethora of new tracks. I can only stand so many new moves before the game turns into a rocket science. For now, Skate 3 looks like a natural evolution of the series and depending on the level design this could either be a fresh experience or just another lap around the skate park.

By Patrick Cant Extreme reviewer What is the one thing that snowboarding games lack? Thatâ€™s right, the ability to chuck snowballs at your fellow boarders. Thankfully, Shaun White Snowboarding doesnâ€™t stop there. In addition to the ability to get off… Continue Reading →

What is the one thing that snowboarding games lack? Thatâ€™s right, the ability to chuck snowballs at your fellow boarders.

Thankfully, Shaun White Snowboarding doesnâ€™t stop there. In addition to the ability to get off your board and go hunting for hidden areas, and toss a few snowballs (on or off the board), Shaun White breaks new ground in the form of first-person snowboarding.

As you can imagine, itâ€™s a bit freaky at first. After years of watching my little avatar flail down a mountain from the standard helicopter shot, now I can see what he or she sees up close and personal.

Thatâ€™s cool, and once you get used to it, itâ€™s pretty sweet. One oddity is that if you hurl yourself off a cliff and throw down a Rodeo 720, the camera remains facing forward. Do a back flip and the camera remains facing forward.

I understand that wild camera rotations might be impossible to integrate in game play, or visually disjointing to players, but you donâ€™t necessarily know when youâ€™ve completed the rotations and can safely land.

Thatâ€™s key to Shaun White because the flip and spin controls are fairly precise. If you hold the left stick down too long you overstate; too short and you donâ€™t come out of the spin in time. Not being able to see how the boarder is positioned in the air has its disadvantages.

However, blasting up the wall of a giant half-pipe in first-person is awesome.
Unlike some games where you only have access to one mountain at first, all four mountains (Park City, Utah, Europe, Japan and Alaska) are open from the start. Your overarching task is to collect coins. Starting out, there are three coins on each mountain. Once you find them all, find Shaun White and heâ€™ll give you a new task: Find 12 more coins!

As you progress, you earn new skills that youâ€™ll need to collect the next round of coins. For example, the second set of coins are hidden behind barriers youâ€™ve got to crash through, and you do that by using Focus (tap square to get ready and X to bust through the barrier).

Bombing down a slope, youâ€™ll see a bright red lionâ€™s head floating in front of a jump or a rail. Follow that trail to find more lionâ€™s heads and the way to the hidden coin.

As you explore the mountains, you find more competitions. Enter freestyle, slopestyle, jibbing (ground or rail tricks), big air, etc. contests. Score well and you get money (for better boards and brighter jackets, of course), and open up more competitions. If you pull of sweet tricks in front of people you get style bonus points.

In Death Race mode, you race against a group, and snowball-tossing is your friend. The only goal is to reach the finish line first and knocking your competitors down is the only way to go. Remember: When youâ€™re in front, theyâ€™re all gunning for you, so move it.

The mountains are huge, and even after dozens of runs I was still finding new paths, hidden jumps, etc. Exploring is key, because youâ€™ll cover the same ground in different races and it helps to know the terrain,especially on the higher slopes where there are massive ravines that you can easily end up in.

Graphically, this game is super-clean. I ran into one or two jaggy issues, and there is the occasional pop-up, but those are few and far between. The sense of speed is great. When you launch off a big ledge, the screen blurs a bit as you get close to landing. Itâ€™s a nice touch.

The upper reaches of most mountains have some sort of avalanche zone. When you trigger an avalanche, the screen shakes and you get an avalanche meter. You must outrun the wall of snow chasing you down the mountain, or youâ€™re toast.

When it gets close, the camera pulls back and you can see the advancing avalanche as it nips at your heels. Again, a nice touch. If itâ€™s not too close, you can pull off a few tricks as you flee (youâ€™ll get a danger bonus). If itâ€™s really close, just tuck and run. Wrecking with an avalanche on your tail is not good.

Shaun White Snowboarding brings all the good and almost none of the bad to the mountain. Great visuals, solid controls, sweet soundtrack, avalanches and snowballs. Thereâ€™s no reason to make the drive to the slopes. And youâ€™re less likely to break your ankle sitting on the couch.